Everything we know about Noah Centineo's Black Adam character Atom Smasher

The To All The Boys I've Loved Before star Noah Centineo has been announced as the newest cast member of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's DC Comics-based movie Black Adam. The break-out young actor will be playing a character named Atom Smasher.

We'll forgive you for not thinking "Oh yeah, him!" when you saw the character name. DC Comics characters haven't had the same kind of star billing as some Marvel ones, but recent movies have begun to shift that.

Shazam!, in particular, showed that Warner Bros could do well with its DC comics-based films if only they stopped trying to be Marvel. Black Adam will hopefully follow the same course, and with actors whose draw is as high as Centineo and Johnson, a big audience turnout is likely.

So, what do we know about Atom Smasher? Well, his name is Albert Rothstein, for starters. Much like Ant-Man, Atom Smasher can shrink and grow at will, and he also has super strength.

As we wrote before, his inclusion in the Black Adam film points to a new Justice League-style team-up film, but hopefully, one that feels organically grown (like in Marvel) and not ham-fisted (sorry, Justice League).

Atom Smasher is the godson of original Justice Society member Atom, from whom he inherited the mantle.

Throughout the comics, his relationship with Black Adam has been defining — not just for him, but for Black Adam, too. Black Adam is already an anti-hero, and in the comics, both he and Al traverse the line of good and bad easily.

This departure from the strict tenets of good vs evil is part of the characters themselves, and as such feel a natural fit in the film, which also differentiates it from Marvel's more binary world. Atom Smasher is even vilified by his Justice Society teammates for the murder of Extant, a villain who killed his mother.

It's Black Adam who defends him against the "needlessly moralistic" codes of their teammates. But their uneasy alliance is later tested when Atom Smasher becomes concerned about Black Adam's motives behind taking over his home country Khandaq.

Throughout the comics, Atom Smasher is a friend to Black Adam, even saving his life (though he never makes this public knowledge). Their up-and-down friendship could play beautifully on screen, depending on how the film shapes its characters.

As no one else has been cast, it's hard to say what else of Atom Slasher's history will be relevant. In the comics, he is Jewish, which seems to matter only when he becomes enthralled with a hero named Fire, who isn't. (Centineo isn't Jewish, but this hasn't stopped anyone before.)

And speaking of being enthralled, Atom Slasher has had several romantic relationships throughout his comics' life: he was in love with Fury (despite her being engaged to his friend), flirts with Yolanda Montez aka the second Wildcat, and also falls in love with Stargirl.

The pair have a tempestuous relationship and are known for destroying cities while arguing, only to make up later. But since we don't know if Stargirl, Fury, Fire, or Wildcat will even be in this film, we have no idea yet if this is relevant to Noah Centineo's take on Atom Slasher.

Black Adam is out in cinemas on December 24, 2021

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Gabriella Geisinger

Gabriella Geisinger is a freelance journalist and film critic, and was previously Deputy Movies Editor at Digital Spy. She loves Star Wars, coming-of-age stories, thrillers, and true crime. A born and raised New Yorker, she also loves coffee and the colour black, obviously.